Gender Blind Casting?

Melissa Etheridge as St. Jimmy. She really didn't play either gender, but it was a woman playing a male's role.

Whoopi replaced Nathan Lane in the revival of Forum back in the 90s.

I don't know if it was ever played that way, but the libretto for Nine swaps the gender for the part of Liliane LaFleur (Maurice LaFleur) and for other female parts like Stephanie Necrophorus.

Updated On: 3/1/11 at 08:02 PM

I think it depends on the work and the part. As a kid, I was in a version of the Sound of Music where my sister played Rolf in drag and the butler was changed to a maid because there weren't enough boys in the program. I think it depends on what effect you're going for or if the part is incidentally one gender or another. I mean, Shakespeare was first performed all male (and today the Globe has all male, all female and coed companies) and in Japan there's the all female Taranzuka musical theatre. I wish YouTube still had the Taranzuka Scarlet Pimpernel clips up.

The Leading Player in PIPPIN has been played by a woman (including Tracie Thoms in the recent Broadway revival-workshop) - but these roles - The Emcee, The Leading Player, Pseudolus - are all slightly androgynous characters. In the UK, where there is a bigger tradition of 'panto' casting - some major musical theatre roles in the West End (including Dolly and Miss Hannigan have been played by men in drag).

There have been a few regional productions of INTO THE WOODS that had a male witch.

There was a very bizarre looking production of A CHORUS LINE that was in Germany about five years ago that made Cassie a male character.

But for the most part - unless the author or the estate signs off on it - the licensing agreements for the rights usually specify that you can't change gender of characters because in doing so you are really changing the authors original intention. The Cole Porter estate for one, memorially shut down a production of ANYTHING GOES in which Reno Sweeney was portrayed as a man ("you're the top," anyone?)

Updated On: 3/1/11 at 08:27 PM

I was recently thinking today it would be fabulous to do Spamalot completely gender reversed.

But MB, I'm glad Hannigan has been played in drag...it gives me hope. (Hannigan, Ms. Lovett, Ursula [I mean, she's a total drag queen] and Edna are all my dream roles)

The bottom line is this: for some shows it works if you want to make a statement. For others, its usually out of necessity. For others its for fun. In the end, it's all in a matter of good taste and what purpose.

However, for most Sondheim shows, since the music is so strict, gender-bending is harder. I believe Madame Armdfelt could be gender-bent, and I believe with the right musical team, Assassins could be a fun gender-bend, but other shows...not so much.

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Lea DeLaria is one talented gender bender, her Marryin' Sam was pitch perfect and she also pulled it off in ROCKY HORROR.

I've seen the Arbiter in "Chess" play by (and as) a female and it was pretty fantastic actually (well she was).

I wanna see a female Jesus Christ in "Jesus Christ Superstar". Yes I know all about the version with Amy Ray (hey I'm an Indigo girls fan!), but I just wanna see a production myself!

I've seen a few Gilbert & Sullian shows change supporting characters to female (and it works as well), but only because (a) the shows are public demain and (b) some of the shows really have bugger all females in it!

Updated On: 3/2/11 at 06:08 AM

There a big difference between a woman playing Finch as a woman and a woman playing a male role in man drag. The John Doyle Sweeney Todd had a woman as Pirelli. Brian Bedford is playing Lady Bracknell. Then there's Edna in Hairspray...

There is no licensing restriction regarding the gender of the performer playing a role. However you cannot change the gender of the CHARACTER without the express written permission (of major league baseball...). The character of Pirelli is a man, regardless of the fact that a woman is playing him.

How to Succeed... is the story of a man named Finch and a girl named Rosemary. You can't change that.

What about Peter Pan?
We now take it for granted that a woman will play this part,at least in the musical, so when a man/boy plays it, is it gender-bending?

OP is talking not about gender bending drag casting, but about actually changing the gender of a character. Not Judith Anderson as Hamlet, Mary Martin as Peter Pan, Fiona Shaw as Richard II, Harvey as Edna or Brian Bedford as Lady Bracknell.

I can certainly see Madame Armfeldt as a drag role, but it would be much more challenging to conceive of the character as Desiree's father rather than her mother.

However, in Smiles of a Summer Night, it is Desiree's son Frederik who lives with Madame Armfeldt, not her daughter Frederika, as in the musical.

Now back to OP's question.

We have a good test case about to open. David Gamble in the new adaptation of On A Clear Day. Neil Simon also has a female version of The Odd Couple, which I believe was first done with Rita Moreno and Sally Struthers (but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong). Mankiewicz adapted Volpone so that the three visitors to the deathbed were women (Susan Hayward, Capucine and Edie Adams), rather than men in The Honey Pot. There are countless examples of cross gender adaptations. I was once cast in an awful adaptation of The Seagull as a male Masha.

Not that I'd encouraqe taking liberties with Williams, but many of his heroines would be interesting to think of as men, and not just for the camp value of it. Consider Catherine in Suddenly Last Summer and Alma in Summer and Smoke. A Queen Lear with a female fool and three children not necessarily all daughters would be intriguing.

In musicals, I'd suggest a female El Gallo (La Gallina?) and a female MacHeath.

Updated On: 10/10/11 at 11:41 PM

Unless there is a scriptural reason for the casing it should NEVER be done. There is actually a difference between genders, unlike the man-made concept of race. Peter Pan was ruined for me as a child because it was played by an old woman and made no sense to me. People are not blind. We cannot ignore someone in drag miscast in a role, despite their talent.Unless you're drawing attention to it, it is not okay. It ruins a show.